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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) -
“Please, thank you and sorry” are the three words that Pope
Francis “would write on the door of every family home” as they
are the key to living well and in peace both inside and outside the
home. They are simple words, much easier to say than to put into
practice, but “they contain great strength: the strength of
protecting the home, even through a thousand difficulties and trials;
instead, when they are lacking, cracks gradually open up that can
even lead it to collapse”.

The Pope dedicated the catechesis of
today's general audience to these three words, normally considered as
the words of politeness. “A great bishop, St. Francis of Sales,
said that kindness is halfway to holiness. However, beware”, he
warned, “as in history we have also known a formalism of good
manners that can become a mask to conceal an arid heart and lack of
interest in others. … Not even religion is immune to this risk, in
which formal observance may slip into spiritual worldliness. The
devil who tempts Jesus shows off his good manners and cites the
Sacred Scriptures. His style appears correct, but his intention is to
deviate from the truth of God's love”.

The first word is “please. “To
enter into the life of another person, even when that person forms
part of our life, requires the delicacy of a non-intrusive attitude,
that renews trust and respect. Confidence, then, does not authorise
us to take everything for granted. Love, the more intimate and
profound it is, the more it demands respect for freedom and the
capacity to wait for the other to open the door of his or her heart”.

The second phrase is “thank you”.
“At times”, observed the Holy Father, “it seems that we are
becoming a civilisation of poor manners and unpleasant words. …
Politeness and the capacity to thank are seen as a sign of weakness,
and at times even arouse distrust. This tendency should be opposed
within the family itself. We must become intransigent in the
education of gratitude and recognition: the dignity of the person and
social justice both come from this. If this approach is neglected in
family life, it will also be lost in social life”.

The third word is “sorry”, as “when
it is lacking, small cracks become larger … to the point of
becoming deep trenches. It is not by chance that in the prayer taught
by Jesus, the Lord's prayer that summarises all the essential
questions for our life, we find the expression 'forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us'.
Acknowledging our errors and being willing to restore what has been
removed – respect, sincerity, love – makes one worthy of
forgiveness. … If we are not capable of apologising, it means we
are not capable of forgiveness either. … Many hurt feelings, many
lesions in the family begin with the loss of those precious words: 'I
am sorry'. In married life there are many arguments … but I advise
you never to let the day end without making peace. And for this, a
small gesture is enough”.

“These three key words for the family
are simple words, and perhaps at first they make us smile. But …
perhaps our education neglects them too much. May the Lord help us to
restore them to their rightful place in our heart, in our home, and
also in our civil co-existence”.

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) –
Before today's general audience, in the room adjacent to the Paul VI
Hall, the Holy Father met with the organisers and sponsors of the
“Concert for the Poor”, to take place tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the
Paul VI Hall in support of the Pope's charitable works. The event
will be sponsored by the Apostolic Almoner, the Pontifical Councils
for Culture and Promoting New Evangelisation, and the St. Matthew
Foundation in memory of Cardinal Van Thuan.

“I thank all of you for everything
you have done, that you do, and will do for this concert, which
brings us together”, said the Pontiff. “Music has the capacity to
unite souls and to unite us with the Lord. It is horizontal and
vertical, it lifts us up and it liberates us from our troubles. Even
sad music, I think of mournful adagios, can help us in difficult
moments”.

“Many thanks, as it does good to all
of us to find spirit amid the materialism that always surrounds us
and brings us down, taking away our joy. And as believers we have the
joy of a Father Who loves us all, and the joy of fraternity with all.
This is the joy that you now sow in this concert. It will be a
concert to sow joy, not the type of joy that entertains for a moment,
no: the seed will remain there in the souls of us all, and will bring
good to all. I thank you from the heart for the good you do”.

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) –
“Whoever lives the mission of Caritas is not simple charitable
worker, but is a true witness of Christ. He is a person who seeks
Christ and allows Christ to seek him; people who love with the spirit
of Christ, a spirit of gratuitousness. … All of our strategies and
plans remain empty unless we carry this love in us”, said Pope
Francis in the homily he pronounced yesterday in St. Peter's Basilica
on the occasion of the beginning of the 20th General Assembly of
Caritas Internationalis.

The Pope commented on the reading from
the Acts of the Apostles in which the jailer of the prison at
Philippi, where Paul and Silas were imprisoned, following the miracle
of the earthquake that opened the doors of the prison, pleaded for
salvation. The story tells us that the man immediately “took the
necessary steps on the path towards faith and salvation: together
with his household, he listened to the Word of the Lord; washed the
wounds of Paul and Silas; received Baptism with his entire family;
and finally, full of joy, he welcomed Paul and Silas into his home,
setting the table and offering them something to eat”.

“We can see in this gesture the
entire vocation of Caritas. Caritas is now a great Confederation,
widely recognised throughout the world for its work and
accomplishments. Caritas is a reality of the Church in many parts of
the world and must still seek a greater expansion in the different
parishes and communities, to renew what took place in the early days
of the Church. In fact, the source of all your service lies in the
simple and docile welcome of God and neighbour. This welcome is first
personally experienced by you, so that you may then go out into the
world, and there, to serve others in the name of Christ, whom you
have met and whom you will continue to meet in every brother and
sister that you will approach as your neighbour. Thanks to this, you
will actually avoid the risk of being reduced to a mere humanitarian
organisation. And the Caritas of each particular Church, even the
smallest, is the same: there is no large Caritas and small Caritas,
they are all equal. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to understand
the true dimension of Caritas; the grace of not being deceived into
thinking that a well-organised centralism is the road to take; the
grace of understanding that Caritas is always in the periphery, in
each particular Church; and the grace of believing that central
Caritas is merely a help, service and experience of communion but not
the overall head”.

“In this way, we can serve everyone
and set the table for all. This is also a beautiful image that the
Word of God offers us today: setting the table. Even now, God sets
the table of the Eucharist. Caritas sets many tables for the hungry.
In recent months you launched the great campaign 'One human family,
food for all'. There are still so many people today who do not have
enough to eat. The planet has enough food for all, but it seems that
there is a lack of willingness to share it with everyone. We ought to
set the table for all, and ask that there be a table for all. We must
do what we can so that everyone has something to eat, but we must
also remind the powerful of the Earth that God will call them to
judgement one day and there it will be revealed if they really tried
to provide food for Him in every person (cf. Matt.25: 35) and if they
did what they could to preserve the environment so that it could
produce this food”.

“And thinking about the table of the
Eucharist, we cannot forget our Christian brothers and sisters who
have been violently deprived of the food for the body and for the
soul: they have been driven from their homes and their churches –
at times destroyed. I renew the appeal not to forget these people and
these intolerable injustices. Together with many other charitable
organisations of the Church, Caritas therefore reveals the power of
Christian love and the desire of the Church to reach out to Jesus in
every person, especially the poor and suffering. This is the path
that lies ahead of us and it is with this perspective that I hope
that you will carry out your work during these days”.

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) – The
Bilateral Commission of the Holy See and the State of Palestine,
which is working on a Comprehensive Agreement following on the Basic
Agreement, signed on 15 February 2000, has held a Plenary Session in
the Vatican to acknowledge the work done at an informal level by the
joint technical group following the last official meeting held in
Ramallah at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine
on 6 February 2014.

The talks were chaired by Mgr Antoine
Camilleri, Under-Secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with
States, and by Ambassador Rawan Sulaiman, Assistant Minister of
Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs of the State of Palestine.

The discussions took place in a cordial
and constructive atmosphere. Taking up the issues already examined at
an informal level, the Commission noted with great satisfaction the
progress achieved in formulating the text of the Agreement, which
deals with essential aspects of the life and activity of the Catholic
Church in Palestine.

Both Parties agreed that the work of
the Commission on the text of the Agreement has been concluded, and
that the agreement will be submitted to the respective authorities
for approval ahead of setting a date in the near future for the
signing.

The members of the Delegation of the
Holy See were Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations
with States; Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, apostolic delegate to
Jerusalem and Palestine; Archbishop Antonio Franco, apostolic nuncio;
Fr. Luciano Lorusso, under-secretary of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches; Msgr. Alberto Ortega, official of the Section for
Relations with States of the Secretariat of State; and Fr. Emil
Salayta, judicial vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The members of the Palestinian
Delegation were Ambassador Rawan Sulaiman, assistant minister of
foreign affairs for multilateral affairs; Ambassador Issa Kassissieh,
representative of the State of Palestine to the Holy See; Ammar
Hijazi, and deputy assistant minister of foreign affairs for
multilateral affairs; and Azem Bishara, legal adviser of the PLO.

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) – The
Holy Father has appointed Rev. Fr. Ambrose Rebello as bishop of
Aurangabad (area 64,525, population 10,119 485, Catholics 15,750,
priests 45, religious 218), India. The bishop-elect was born in
Nirmal, India in 1949 and ordained a priest in 1979. He has served in
a number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Aurangabad, including
parish vicar and parish priest in a number of parishes. He is
currently parish priest of the Karuna Matha Mandir Parish, Vaijapoor,
vicar general of Aurangabad, director of the diocesan pastoral
centre, and chancellor and vice director of the Education Society of
the diocese. He succeeds Bishop Edwin Colaco, whose resignation from
the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was
accepted by the Holy Father.

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) – We
inform our readers that no VIS bulletin will be transmitted tomorrow,
Thursday 14 May, the Solemnity of the Lord's Ascension and a holiday
in the Vatican. Service will resume on Friday, 15 May.